The Honest Courtesan

As I predicted, my feelings around my birthday were much more complicated this year because Grace was not here to share it with me; I suspect Thanksgiving and Christmas will be harder still, given that I have not spent Christmas without Grace since 1997.  But my friends were here with me for my birthday, as they will be at the other holidays, and my generous readers sent me presents: a new sheet set to replace an old one which had torn, several movies, and DVD sets for The Fugitive, Partners in Crime and one of the Jon Pertwee seasons of Doctor Who.  Two of my friends have a gift for finding things they know I’ll like that I didn’t know even existed; Yellowbird got me a statuette of a cobra, and Jae found me a cashmere sweater and a charming little kid’s book which I viewed as a sort of extra-long Halloween card.  So even though nothing can truly fill the Grace-shaped hole in my life, it’s good to be surrounded by people who care, and are willing to go out of their way to tell me.